


14 Months Is A Long Time

by BloodLily16



Series: Woman of Steel AU [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman - All Media Types, Superman: The Animated Series, World's Finest (1997)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Cat Grant is her Lois and Clark incarnation more than Supergirl, Childhood Friends, Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne Friendship, Female Bruce Wayne, Female Clark Kent, Gen, Genderbending, Lois is still a woman, Unpretty references, Woman of Steel AU, but civilians and villains aren't, superheroes are genderbent in this, the childhood friends thing is technically canon, there's no romance in this particular au unless you squint really hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 04:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15788994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodLily16/pseuds/BloodLily16
Summary: Ruth smiled and took Clara’s hands in hers. “It’s good to see you too.”Lois felt like she’d gone to a basketball game and all the players had come out in full football padding.Or, Lois Lane finds out that her bumbling coworker is close friends with the richest woman in the world.





	14 Months Is A Long Time

**Author's Note:**

> The childhood friends bit is based off of this:
> 
> http://bloodlily16.tumblr.com/post/151469949201/why-i-love-comics-batmansuperman-3-split

For once, the city of Metropolis looked overcast and gloomy. Lois wondered if the weather had come to herald the arrival of their newest visitor. It was certainly a h-ll of a coincidence, either way. 

Not that the weather put a damper on Clara’s spirits. Actually, she was much more chipper than she usually was, for some strange reason. Lois didn’t have time to think of that right now, though, of course. Instead, she was waiting for the plane door to open, so she could fight with the dozens of other reporters who all wanted a scoop on Ruth Wayne and her visit to Metropolis. Maybe she could shove Clara into the crowd and use her as a distraction? The woman tripped and rolled around enough without a scratch, and people were softer than the floors at the _Planet_. No, maybe that was too mean of her. Then again…. 

Clara pulled out her phone and checked it for what Lois realized was easily the fifth time in six minutes. 

“Waiting for someone?” asked Lois, looking at Clara’s phone.

“A friend of mine is coming to visit today,” said Clara. “And she promised to text me as soon as she landed.”

“Maybe her plane’s late?”

Clara looked up at the Airstream sitting on the tarmac. “No, it’s here.” 

Lois’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “Your friend is flying in on Ruth Wayne’s private jet?”

“Actually,” said a voice from behind them. “I took a smaller flight.” 

Lois and Clara whipped around. Standing behind them was Ruth Wayne, dressed in a well-tailored black pantsuit. 

“Miss Wayne.” Lois stood up straight and held out her hand. “I’m Lois Lane, with the—,” 

Clara cut her off by launching herself at Ruth and hugging her and twirling her before sitting her back down, much to Lois’s befuddlement. Said befuddlement turned to shock when Ruth chuckled ruefully and hugged Clara back. 

“It’s been ages since I saw you last!” said Clara, squeezing Ruth. 

“14 months are hardly ages,” said Ruth wryly. There was a smile on her lips. 

“Oh, hush!” Clara chuckled and released Ruth from the hug. “It’s just good to see you again.”

Ruth smiled and took Clara’s hands in hers. “It’s good to see you too.” 

Lois felt like she’d gone to a basketball game and all the players had come out in full football padding. 

“I’m….” Lois struggled to find the words. “Sorry?” Not completely accurate, but good enough. 

“Oh!” Clara took a step back, her elated grin barely abating. “Sorry, I almost forgot to introduce you. Ruth, this is Lois. Lois, this is my good friend, Ruth.” 

Of all the things that Lois Lane had heard in her life that didn’t involve Superwoman, Clara calling Ruth Wayne, CEO of Wayne Industries, the most eligible bachelorette in America and easily one of the top ten most eligible bachelorettes in the world, her good friend was at the top of the list. 

“What.” 

“I take it you didn’t tell her?” Ruth raised an eyebrow at Lois, and then looked at Clara. 

“It never really came up,” said Clara. “And she wouldn’t have believed me anyway.” 

“Hey!” 

“In fairness,” said Ruth, “the story does sound far-fetched.” 

“Well I wouldn’t know!” Lois short Clara a glare. “Because someone didn’t mention that she was best friends with the woman I was sent to interview!” 

“I don’t have best friends,” said Ruth. 

“She doesn’t have best friends,” said Clara. 

“It’s rude to my other friends.”

“She’s funny that way.” 

Ruth shot Clara an annoyed glare. Clara smiled. Lois glared at both of them. It didn’t work half as effectively as she wanted it to. Drat. 

“I take it you’re here to interview me about my permanent ban from Walmart?” Ruth asked dryly. 

“First I want to know how the world’s most awkward small-town girl knows _Ruth_ _f-cking Wayne_!” 

“The car broke down close to her house,” said Ruth. 

Lois stared at her. 

“It’s true,” said Clara. “I was playing baseball with a friend, and we saw the car. I asked her if she wanted to play with us.” 

Lois’s mouth was hanging open. 

“I have no idea why,” said Ruth. “But Alfred told me to go ahead while he continued to try and fix the car.” 

“You looked lonely.” 

“I looked like an idiot,” scoffed Ruth. “You and your friend were playing catch in torn jeans and stained t-shirts, and I missed ball after ball while wearing a sailor dress and leggings.” 

“I offered to let you borrow my clothes.”

“You were even bigger than me than you are now, what made you think that that would work out in the slightest?”

“It was polite.” 

Ruth sighed and rolled her eyes. Despite everything, she didn’t actually look that annoyed with Clara. She looked almost fond, actually. Lois filed that fact away for a later date. 

“Of course then we got into a fist fight,” said Clara. “When I started talking about how she hit worse than my grandma.” 

“ _You got into a fistfight with Ruth Wayne?_ ” Lois’s voice didn’t jump an octave. No, that was silly, and anyone who said otherwise was lying through their teeth. 

“It did until I threw her over my shoulder,” said Ruth. “And then she begged me to teach her.” 

“I don’t know if ‘beg’ is quite the right word,” said Clara, raising an eyebrow at Ruth in the exact same way Ruth herself had raised an eyebrow at Lois. The resemblance was uncanny. 

“It’s exactly the right word.” 

“I’m not someone who begs.” 

“There are so many jokes I could make about that and I hope you admire my restraint for not making them in front of your co-worker.”

Clara laughed.

“When Cat finds out about this she’s going to lose her d-mn mind,” said Lois. 

“Cat?” asked Ruth.

“Ah.” Clara rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Catharine Grant?”

Ruth’s eyes widened. “Is this the same woman who’s under the impression that you’re sexually repressed because you grew up on a small-town farm in the midwest?”

Lois burst out laughing. 

“I have never said that!” 

“You’ve implied it,” said Ruth. 

“I’m telling Cat you said that,” said Lois, writing it down.

“Lois, no!”

“I allow it as long as you film her reaction.” 

Clara covered her face with her hands, pushing her glasses up so they wouldn’t be too smudged. Why she didn’t just get contacts was beyond Lois. 


End file.
